Exploring Uncounted Contribution of Women in Bangladesh: Barriers, Implications and Opportunities

Abstract

Work is typically divided along gender lines with men being responsible for the outside work and as the main income-earner and women for housework and child care. Women's unpaid work is not recognized and therefore, women are considered as passive dependents. Non-recognition of women's activity not only leads to undervaluation of economic contribution but also contributes to their lower status in society relative to men in Bangladesh. Therefore unpaid work is not a gender-neutral bundle of chores that women perform out of comparative advantage or lower resources but instead it is an integral part to the reproduction of unequal power relations between men and women.

“No one will say homemakers don’t work” A study in Dhaka city to explore the perceptions of women on redefining unpaid work: Recognition or redistribution?

“…The traditional norms and values force both the middle and lower middle-class women to be involved in the household and care work in the name of sacrifices for meeting the ideal image of motherhood and womanhood (Poduval & Poduval, 2009). Men's involvement in the household level is recently becoming an important issue in the development table due to the expansion of labour market and women's increased participation in it for the wellbeing of family (Haque, 2016;Oláh et al, 2018). Many women are also demanding that their husbands should share some of their work and responsibilities that will make them more confident to work properly and in a pleasant way.…”

“…On the contrary, when it comes to middle class group, the non-employed women cherish similar kinds of expectations while the employed women believe that the expected number of hours should be in accordance with the type and nature of work their husbands are involved with. An employed woman from the middle-class group professed her thoughts as under: Participation of men into the unpaid work can bring some relief and possibilities of breaking the stereotypes for women's "housewifization" (Haque, 2016). Though the gender relations and mindset do not allow the issue into the broader spectrum, the changes have started to take place and current generation men are thinking about their roles and responsibilities in a different way (Oláh et al, 2018).…”